A designer of new trends as much as he was an engineer of technology, Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder and chairman, leaves behind a company at its apex. More importantly, he leaves a grand legacy of innovation, one which has revolutionized his industry.

Jobs, 56, made the computer more personal, music more portable, and the phone more … well, everything. Jobs, a college drop-out, spearheaded all things i-anything. His entrepreneurial skills helped launch his company to the top of the technological world. His artistic sensibility fused tech with fashion, making an industry once synonymous with geek more chic.

For Jobs, it was the life he wanted.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life,” Jobs said in his 2005 Stanford University commencement address.

Before succumbing to the pancreatic cancer he had fought since 2004, Jobs pushed Apple the pinnacale of Silicon Valley. According to its earnings report in April, Apple recorded cash and cash equivalents of $65.8 billion — the most revenue of any technology company. Google, coming in at second, notched only $36.7 billion. Apple’s stock yesterday stood solid at $378, making up a 5% loss from the previous day when the company’s stock fell as the iPhone 4S was unveiled instead of the highly anticipated iPhone 5. Jobs' brilliance was the payout for many shareholders.

But Apple and Jobs’ relationship was not always a storybook marriage.

After launching the first Macintosh computer in 1984, Jobs was fired from Apple after a falling out with the company’s board of directors.

Without Jobs to steer the ship, Apple crumbled, coming close to bankruptcy before Jobs again returned as CEO in 1996.

Jobs' résumé is testament to this genius.

In 1977, Jobs helped launch the Apple II, one of the first successful personal computers. His track record for producing popular consumer electronics was only beginning. In 2001, he helped revolutionize personal gadgets with the introduction of Apple’s iMac, iTunes, and iPod. In 2007, Apple seemingly tied all of its devices together with the iPhone. In 2010, Jobs unveiled the iPad.

Jobs founded Pixar Animation Studios and was credited as one of the producers of Toy Story while serving as the chief director.

“America lost a genius who will be remembered with Edison and Einstein,” New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg said of Jobs' passing.